Monday, September 12, 2011

Weekend Report: DC Short Film Festival and Dinner at Oyamel


The DC Short Film Festival started Thursday night and runs through next Sunday. This weekend I saw “Suite 8,” a 90-minute chunk of a series of short films.



But before I get to the movies,
  • Happy Birthday Sister1!!! I love you!!!



And now let’s backtrack to Friday.

I got off work and felt lazy, sluggish, and overfed (I had a snack-heavy week). I wanted to do something, but not just any something - I wanted to run. So I embarked on my favorite 7-mile loop, planning to run the first 4 miles, then run/walk the last 3 (making my comeback – woot woot!). It got dark in Rock Creek Park sooner than I expected (hello fall!), making the trails a bit tricky to navigate. I ran 5 miles straight, then took a total of 4x2-minute walk breaks towards the end. Awesome. Yay running!

Saturday I may have overdone it a bit in the workout department…I went to bikram yoga from 9-10:30, and then to Wilson Pool for 2 hours of pool running. By the time I pulled myself out of the pool I was heavy-legs stairs-are-difficult exhausted, but in a good way. I love the lots-of-exercise tired, it feels so satisfying.

And now onto Sunday. I’ve never been to a short film festival before and I really enjoyed it. How it works is that filmmakers submit their movies to the festival, and then 145 finalists are selected to be shown and judged over 4 days.

You may or may not know that for 2 years in college I majored in Film (until I switched to International Relations). I’m not going to claim to be an expert film critique, but I do enjoy some analysis. And my favorite film class was Screenwriting. You’d be surprised by how hard it is to come up with a good, non-cliché, short film plot!



The films varied in content and style, from disturbing to cute to animated to hand-held cameras. I think my favorite was "Larsen" ("Feedback"), a quirky French short about a 30-year-old woman that asks the question of who is narrating your life? 

Watching all those films worked up an appetite, so I followed the movies with dinner at Oyamel, a Mexican tapas bar owned by celebrity chef Jose Andreas. It was delicious. I didn’t go for the famous Grashopper Tacos (I’m an adventurous eater, but I draw the line at bugs), but everything I tried was good.

Ceviche de huachinango Red snapper ceviche with avocado in salsa mexicana of tomato, sweet onion, cilantro and lime juice

Arrachera Con Salsa Molcajete grilled skirt steak with a sauce of grilled tomatoes, tomatillos, green onions, cilantro and green chiles, garnished with pickled cactus paddle

Nopal Asado Con Salsa Molcajete grilled fresh cactus paddles served with a salsa molcajete of grilled tomatoes, tomatillos, green onions, cilantro and green chiles

Taco De Birria Estilio Guadalajara guadalajara style goat, veal and lamb taco in a cascabel, ancho and guajillo chile sauce with onions and cilantro

Quesadilla De Chicharrones pasture raised shenandoah valley pork belly fried until crisp and served in a house made tortilla with chihuahua cheese and a sauce of five chiles

And the dessert was beyond – so rich and creamy, definitely not for the faint of heart!


Pastel De Tres Leches Con Piña a traditional cake soaked in coruba rum and three kinds of milk, with a rum and milk foam, fresh pineapple gelatin and a pineapple salsa. served with a scoop of caramel ice cream.

I hope you too had a weekend full of good workouts, amusing entertainment, and delicious food!